Will you help the Hope for Slaves project? We need you. They need you.

We are two schools, Reading High School in Reading, Ohio and Westwood Schools in Camilla, Georgia. The Reading students have a business and marketing class taught by teacher Brian Page (@finedchat) and the Westwood students have a 3 week social media project that they do as part of Computer Fundamentals with teacher Vicki Davis (@coolcatteacher).

Would you help end slavery?

1. Buy jewelry from organizations supporting the elimination of human trafficking like Destiny Rescue and wear the jewelry on May 1st to show your support for the effort.
   
2. Take this request to your students, friends, and those in the blogosphere.
   (They would appreciate it - they've done what they can on their networks and they've asked me to help! Please show them the power of the network for this important cause.)
   
3. Will you support them by liking their pages, commenting and resharing their work in this effort?

Where they are sharing:

• wordpress blog:  http://hopeforslaves.com/
• Facebook fanpage: https://www.facebook.com/HopeForSlaves
• Twittert: @hope_for_slaves 
• Facebook "event" page for those buying jewelry and "attending" https://www.facebook.com/events/106911656108844/
• The hashtag we use and track is #endslavery as it is already in use. (See hashtags can save lives)

What are the students doing?

May 1st is "May Day" but we wanted it to be celebrated in a way relating to modern society. The students are asking everyone to buy jewelry made by those who have been freed from human slavery so that money will go into organizations that free slaves.

The students have chosen Destiny Rescue as their "official" organization but encourage everyone to find the organization of their choice that supports the end of "modern" day slavery.

The students are blogging, Tweeting, and working on Facebook to ask their friends and families to purchase and wear jewelry. They are educating themselves in a topic that is important to them.

Let's hear from the students:

Pain + Crime = Human Trafficking
When people think of crimes, most do not think of human trafficking. Human trafficking is the fastest growing and second largest criminal enterprise in the world. Most of the time, human trafficking is run by organized crime. There are an estimated 27 million adults and 13 million children trapped in slavery at this moment. Approximately 20,000 individuals are trafficked here, in the United States from other countries every year. This is small number compared with other countries. With help, we can end human trafficking once and for all! 

The RealityYou might have heard about human slavery, but do you know the facts behind the concept?
The facts

• What exactly is slavery? It’s when someone is forced to work without pay. They cannot walk away because they are “bought and owned.” Most are overworked and beaten.

• Human trafficking
 is modern day slave trade.

• 600,000-800,000 people are trafficked internationally each year.

• Think a slave is expensive? Think again. Ninety dollars is the average cost of a human slave.

• Slavery is illegal in all parts of the world, but it is happening everywhere.

• India and African countries hold the majority of the slaves in the world.

 The numbers

• There are 27 million slaves in the world today. If something is not done quickly to help these poor slaves, this number will go up.

• Although you may think the U.S. doesn’t have many slaves, 14,500-17,500 are brought into the country each year.

• 80% of these are women and children

• 1.2 million children trafficked every year.

• There are 27 million slaves worldwide.

Shocking, huh? Knowing the facts makes you realize how serious the matter is. Human slavery is not a trivial thing, and major steps need to be taken to stop it.

Related articles

• The Reality (hopeforslaves.com)
• Facts about Human Trafficking (hopeforslaves.com)
• Stand Up For The Slaves (hopeforslaves.com)
• Be a Voice (hopeforslaves.com)

Note: This is what happens when you take your passions and talk with your students and others. See Calling All Bloggers: Let's Free Slaves this Christmas. Many educators are beginning to realize that human trafficking is uniquely our issue because it victimizes the children we serve in a massive way. We love children and if we can't speak for them, who will. This isn't a cute, nice, pleasant issue but it is one we must address if we are to call ourselves modern.